Re: [VM] Info node "External Messages"

[Alan Wehmann]

Uday Reddy writes:
 > To: address@hidden
 > Subject: Re: [VM] Info node "External Messages"
 > Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2012 07:07:58 +0100
 > From: Uday Reddy <address@hidden>
 > 
 > Alan Wehmann writes:
 > 
 > > I tried out some of what is described in Info node "External Messages"
 > > yesterday.  
 > 
 > Hi Alan, I can't tell what you tried from this info node, but the rest of
 > your message indicates to me that you were using Local Folders.  External
 > messages are only available for IMAP Folders.  So, I would expect that
 > whatever you tried from the info node would not have had any effect.
 > 
 > Since you say that you chose to delete the downloaded messages from the
 > server, the only copies you have now are in the Local Folder.  So, please be
 > very careful with what you do with them.  They are gone from the server.
 > 
 > My impression is that Thunderbird doesn't really have Local Folders for IMAP
 > servers.  They are a bad idea.  If I had a choice, I would get rid of them.
 > But Kyle Jones implemented them and a lot of people use them.  So, it
 > appears that my hands are tied.
 > 
 > The variable `vm-imap-max-message-size' is also used for downloading
 > messages into Local Folders but I notice that it wasn't documented in the
 > info node.  I will fix that.
 > 
 > Cheers,
 > Uday
 > 
> 2nd From: Uday Reddy <address@hidden>
> 2nd Sender: address@hidden
> 2nd To: address@hidden
> 2nd Cc: address@hidden
> 2nd Subject: Re: [VM] Info node "External Messages"
> 2nd Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2012 08:54:49 +0100
> 2nd 
> 2nd Alan Wehmann writes:
> 2nd 
> 2nd > IMAP server at work.  Since I am used to how Thunderbird implements
> 2nd > its size limitations I was surprised to find myself being asked yes or
> 2nd > no for each over-sized message.  
> 2nd 
> 2nd The doc-string for `vm-imap-max-message-size' says that the yes/no 
> question
> 2nd is asked only when `vm-get-new-mail' is invoked interactively.  It is not
> 2nd supposed to be asked if you did `vm-visit-folder' and had
> 2nd `vm-auto-get-new-mail' set to t.
> 2nd 
> 2nd Did that work correctly?
> 2nd 
> 2nd Cheers,
> 2nd Uday
> 2nd 

I'll try to describe the settings that I used (the ones that are
relevant to this discussion):

 vm-auto-get-new-mail t
 vm-fetched-message-limit 10
 vm-enable-external-messages '(imap)
 vm-imap-max-message-size 50000
 vm-spool-files '("imap:127.0.0.1:143:inbox:login:*:*")

I had stunnel running as a service (on my Windows XP Home laptop).

In the stunnel configuration file I had

[imaps]
accept = localhost:143
connect = email.fnal.gov:993

I used the command "vm" to initiate the downloading of messages from
the IMAP server.

There were 533 messages in the IMAP inbox.  Roughly 35 of these were
greater than 50000 in size.  For each of these "large" messages I was
asked if I wished to download them.  For each I responded no.  I was
then asked if I wanted to delete them from the "maildrop".  In a
confused state, I answered yes (not a good answer).  As a result they
were completely gone.

I attach a couple of configuration windows from Thunderbird, for the
IMAP server.  I have chosen not to have Thunderbird download message
copies to my computer, but it is possible to do so, and impose a size
limit.  One of the windows illustrates what happens to messages that
are marked for deletion via Thunderbird.

Once you add the documentation that describes the use of
'vm-imap-max-message-size' for downloading messages into Local
Folders, then the source of my confusion might go away.

For me there is a mode of operation where I like to download selected
IMAP messages into Local Folders & have a local copy.  As I indicated
in one of my messages, I need to use the web interface to the IMAP
server to clean out the IMAP server inbox.  I would use the web
interface for this, since then the limited DSL upload speed is not a
factor when moving messages from one folder to another on the server.

-- 
Alan Wehmann
address@hidden